Turkey Labour Force Survey October 2007

Working age population increased by 874 thousand in the period of October 2007 compared to the same period of the previous year

While non-institutional civilian population increased by 913 thousand persons and has reached to 73 million 792 thousand persons, non-institutional working age civilian population has increased by 874 thousand and has reached to 52 million 796 thousand persons in the period of October 2007.

Non-agricultural employment increased by 170 thousand

Number of employed persons decreased by 55 thousand persons compared to the same period of the previous year and has reached to 22 million 750 thousand persons in the period of October 2007. Agricultural employment decreased by 225 thousand persons and non-agricultural employment increased by 170 thousand persons in this period.


Of those who were employed in October 2007; 25.9 % was employed in agriculture, 20.2 % was employed in industry, 6.2 % was employed in construction and 47.7 % was employed in services. Employment in agriculture decreased by 0.9 while that industry increased by 0.1 percentage points and services increased by 0.8. The share of construction is realized without any change.

Number of unemployed persons increased by 114 thousand persons compared to the same period of the previous year and has reached to 2 million 458 thousand persons in Turkey. Unemployment rate realized as 9.7 % with 0.4 points increase. Unemployment rate increased to 11.8 % with a 0.5 percentage points increase in urban areas and increased to 6.6 % with 0.2 percentage points in rural areas.


Non-agricultural unemployment rate realized as 12.3 % with 0.4 percentage points increase compared to the same period of the previous year in Turkey. The rate is realized as 10.7 % with a 0.4 percentage points decrease for male and 18.6 % for female without any change.

In this period, of those who were unemployed;

• 70.8 % were male.
• 54.8 % had education below high school.
• 29.4 % were seeking job for one year or more.
• Unemployed persons were commonly seeking job through “their acquaintances” (30.7 %).
• 80.8 % (1 million 987 thousand) had worked previously.
• Among those who were employed previously; 49 % were employed in “services”, 23.3 % were employed in “industry”, 17.8 % were employed in “construction”, 9.9 % were employed in “agriculture”.


In this period, of those who were employed;

• 74.6 % were male,
• 61.2 % had education below high school.
• 59 % were regular and casual employee, 27.2 % were self-employed and employer,
13.8 % were unpaid family worker.
• 61.1 % worked in establishments consisting of “1-9 employees”.
• 2.4 % had an additional job.
• 3.2 % was seeking job either to replace the current job or to augment the existing job.
• 86.8 % of regular employees worked in permanent jobs.


The ratio of persons who worked without any social security related to the main job declined to 46.9 % with 1.7 percentage point decrease. The share of persons who did not have any social security in agriculture decreased from 88 % to 87.6 % and that in non-agriculture decreased from 34.2 % to 32.7 % compared to the same period of the previous year.


Labour force participation rate (LFPR) decreased to 47.7 % with 0.7 percentage points decrease compared to the same period of the previous year for Turkey in October 2007 period. LFPR was realized as 71.6 % with 0.4 percentage point decrease for male and decreased to 24.4 % with 0.9 percentage point decrease for female. LFPR was 45.5 % with a 0.3 percentage point decrease in urban areas and 51.8 % with a 1.3 percentage points decrease in rural areas in this period. As for the distribution of labour force by education and age group;